


a world with you

by stars (warmth)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 03:25:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6937765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warmth/pseuds/stars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, how Kagami fights crime, and his feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a world with you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sheneverupdates](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheneverupdates/gifts).



> For the Kagakuro exchange on tumblr. 
> 
> Prompt: Kagami is a superhero; recently there's another mysterious hero (Kuroko) that's been showing up and helping him on busts, and Kagami can't get him out of his head

 

He's standing on the edge of a building looking over the city when Kuroko puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait,” He says quietly. His eyes are blue, blue, _blue,_ and far too pretty for an eighteen year old boy in spandex. “Your mask is crooked.”

Kagami, embarrassed and too soft to deal with all of this, thinks about happy endings.

 

-

 

“Don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic?” Himuro asks.

He’s in Budapest on a job and Kagami is more than jealous, because. Well. There’s a predicament.

“It’s not _melodramatic_ , it’s—well, _it’s_ —”

“Melodramatic.”

“I hate you.”

Himuro hums, amused. “I didn’t even know Japan was still big on the whole hero business.”

“Fuck, neither did I.” Kagami sighs. He feels resigned. “So much for an easy gig to impress Dad.”

He swings his legs over the ledge of his balcony railing. From up here, everything looks small. Shiny. In need of protecting.

“Listen. As much as I love listening to you have a breakdown about a disappearing Japanese superheroes—and I _do_ —my target is getting away. Give Alex a call once and awhile, okay?”

The line goes dead. He groans and sticks his phone into his back pocket.

Disappearing Japanese superheroes, huh.

Kagami thinks he’s going crazy.

 

-

 

He meets Kuroko in a back alley, which is only a little less shady than it sounds.

Frankly, he’s in the process of getting his ass kicked when someone melts out of the shadows, all skin and bones. He isn’t even dressed up and for all intents and purposes, he looks like any other passerby in sneakers and a bomber jacket.

The kid slows to a stop in front of him, hands in his pockets. His hair is bluer than the Baltic.

“Do you need a hand?” He asks.

Kagami takes another hit to the face with a grunt.

He spits into the gutter. “Hell no.”

The boy sighs. The villain hisses and gets him around the neck. A soft touch falls on his back, between the base of his shoulder blades.

It’s like a light coming on. The concrete crumbles beneath his feet. His field of vision widens, sharpens, and he jams his fist into the villain’s ribcage, sends him flying like the protagonist of an old American superhero movie.

Kagami turns around, flexing his fingers. “What did you just do to me?”

That rush. That surge of power. It was like nothing he’s ever felt before. It’s _overwhelming_.

Blue laughs a little. “I’m a shadow, Kagami-kun.”

“What?”

By the time Kagami looks up though, he’s already gone.  

 

-

 

Tuesday. Kagami is locked upside in someone’s basement over a pool of water. There’s a flash of blue and the chains break and the world shakes and Kagami is free.

Wednesday. Kagami is fighting seven men in a decrepit old parking lot. There’s a flash of blue and car tires start spinning by themselves and the lot shivers on its spokes and Kagami is free.

Saturday. Kagami is in a bank in town, thirteen hostages, five criminals. There’s a flash of blue and his bomb is disarmed underneath his hands and the doors fly open and Kagami is free.

Kagami shakes his head after every encounter, endlessly bewildered.

The boy never gives him an explanation and he never asks, but there’s something about him that haunts Kagami for a long, long time.

 

-

 

“I looked into it. No one’s ever heard of him.” Himuro says. “Personally, he sounds like a vigilante.”

“You wear a bandana over your face as part of your official uniform. I don’t think you can say anything about vigilantism.”

“Better than your star-spangled panties. Can you even spell vigilante, Taiga-kun?”

His brother, as always, is consistently unhelpful.

 

-

 

“Hey,” Kagami works up the courage to say, eventually. “What’s your name?”

It’s a foot race through the city and Kagami _lives_ for this kind of action. Two criminals. One with a gun, one that can breathe fire.

He doesn’t need any help today.

Blue blinks at him. He’s sweating.

“Kuroko.” He says.

 _Kuroko_ , Kagami thinks.

They’re coming to an intersection. His heart kicks into high gear and power flows through his legs.

He turns back momentarily, to flick his eyes over Kuroko’s shoulder.

“On your ten!”

Kuroko, as Kagami would learn, is surprisingly terrible at hero business which he supposes is a good excuse as any for why he gets completely decked.

 

-

 

“Are you okay?” Kagami asks, when the kid wakes up. Everyone else has fled or gone to the police station.

Kuroko rubs his head. “Yeah.”

“Does that, um, happen to you a lot?”

“Yeah.”

Kagami shakes his head. They stare at each other for a long moment before Kagami starts laughing.

“You’re a strange superhero.” He says. “I’ll see you around, Kuroko.”

“Okay.” Kuroko murmurs. Kagami feels eyes on him as he walks away.

 

-

 

The next time he sees Kuroko, it’s actually on official orders.

“The police chief sent me.” Kuroko says.

“Right.” Kagami replies. He has questions and Kuroko, despite all his strangeness, has answers.

They walk next to each other, down into the train station. It’s raining in Tokyo. The buildings are bright and shiny and full glass up close. Kagami feels like he’s going to break something, or everything. He thinks about what he wants to say and Kuroko, blessedly, lets him.

“That power you gave me once.” Kagami murmurs. “What was it?”

“I’m an enhancer.” Kuroko tells him, almost defensive. “There are other things I can do, though.”

He nods. “Like that vanishing act.”

“Right.” Kuroko says.

An enhancer. His mother was one of those, which he decides to attribute his fondness to. Reminds him of his mother. Yeah.   

Kagami stares up at the reported hideout.

Two perpetrators. One drug manufacturing plant. Four assisting, with powers. His eyes flit around the facade.

Kagami, headstrong and reckless, goes crashing through the window headfirst like he always does. He swears he hears Kuroko laugh a little, but it might just be wishful thinking.

It’s over in a matter of minutes. Kuroko cuts into a man’s abdomen. Kagami crushes one of their elbows. There’s screaming and blood and dying flames.

“Good?” Kagami asks, and he likes the way his own hands feel, the way Kuroko looks standing over their enemies.

“Good.” Kuroko says, and smiles.

 

-

 

The police chief that sent Kuroko, he learns, used to be a part of Japan’s finest.

Nijimura Shuuzo. Teiko’s ringleader. There was a phantom sixth man, Kagami remembers. A myth. A funny little legend he heard about for the first time on a basketball court in America when he was seventeen.

_Phantom sixth man._

Well, Kagami will be damned.

 

-

 

“So, what, you have the hots for him now?” Himuro asks. Kagami can hear him eating chips over the phone.

“It’s not _that_. I just—admire him, I guess. He’s kind of cool. Don’t you remember the stories?”

“Hello, my name is Himuro Tatsuya, can I please speak to the real Kagami Taiga?”

He snarls. “Shut up.”

Himuro laughs.

" _Balls_ , Taiga. I know you. If you want to date him, grow some!”

 

-

 

“What do you want to do with your life, Kagami-kun?” Kuroko asks.

Kagami ties his arm off clumsily. He stares at his handiwork. It’ll stop the bleeding, at least.

“This, of course.” Kagami replies easily. “Superhero work. I want to save people. I want to be as good as my dad.”

“Your dad?”

“Big American superhero,” He says, leaning back into the couch. “Why? Do you not want to be a superhero forever?”

Kuroko shrugs, looking out the window. “I’m not sure. I’m not sure, if I’m all that suited for it.”

 

-

 

That night, with Kuroko sleeping on his couch, Kagami dreams.

He’s standing on the Empire State building in his underwear and Kuroko is sitting on the ledge beside him. He’s prettier than the ocean and twice as terrifying, even to Kagami’s traitorous subconscious.

“Aren’t you embarrassed, Kagami-kun?” He asks.

“Of course not,” Kagami flexes. “I’m a superhero!”

“Me too.” Kuroko says, in this warped voice. “Do you know what they say about superheroes that compliment each other well, Kagami-kun?”

"No, what—”

 

-

 

He wakes up before Kuroko can tell him, filled with a strange sense of regret.

 

-

 

“I don’t get you.” Kagami says.

It’s Sunday morning, their day off. Kuroko’s sitting on a bench eating ice cream. Kagami watches him and digs his sneaker into the ground.

Kuroko’s smile is sticky vanilla. “Kagami-kun doesn’t get lots of things.”

“C’mon, I’m being serious.”

He’s wanted to be a superhero since before he could walk. His father was famous in America. Rich. _Powerful_. All that super spirit was in his blood. It was a given.

Kuroko’s motivations, though, are a complete mystery.

“How come I’ve never really heard of you?” Kagami asks. “You were a part of the Miracles, but no one even knows you exist.”

Kuroko stares up at him. “Do you think heroes are still heroes, if they get paid for it?”

He leans back on his hands and thinks about it.

“I don’t know. But you’re a hero, despite all the shit you say. People should know that.”

“You know it, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko says. His voice is soft, and sincere. “That’s enough for me.”  

 

-

 

His father calls him that night.

“I have a job for you.” He says, excited. “I’ve heard so much about your journey, son.”

Kagami, hands shaking, says, “Tell me more.”

 

-

 

“You’re leaving?” Kuroko asks.

They’re in a warehouse that smells like sewer water and it’s the wrong time to talk about it.

Kagami slams the villain's head into a stray desk. “I was going to tell you before we saw these idiots steal from a jewelry store and you _had_ to give chase.”

Kuroko has already taken care of the rest. It’s the first time Kagami has seen him do that. He blinks, surprised.

“You were right there beside me.” Kuroko reminds him.

“I was.”

Kagami looks at his feet. Moment of truth, then.

“You can come with me.” He blurts, which isn’t at all what he wanted to say.

He thinks Kuroko knows, because he smiles a little ruefully and walks closer.

“No, I can’t, Kagami-kun.”

Kagami bites at the inside of his cheek. “I’ve never met anyone like you, Kuroko. I want, fuck, I just want—”

He doesn’t _know_ what he wants, but Kuroko is looking at him and Kagami needs to say something to alleviate this tightness in his chest. Kuroko steps closer.

“You’ve wanted this for a long time.” Kuroko tries.

Blindly, stupidly, not thinking of what he could lose, Kagami says, “I’ve wanted you for a long time, too.”

And Kuroko—beautiful, disappearing, _infuriating_ Kuroko—takes his hand.  

 

-

 

The day Kagami is set to leave, it’s raining out. He feels weak and his resolve is shaky at best.

Kuroko holds him by the chin.

“Don’t die, okay?” He says, voice endlessly steady. Then, he kisses him.

Kagami takes his time, holding Kuroko’s face in both hands and he’s scared as hell that his heart is going to beat out of his chest. It’s a while before they part.

“Of course.” Kagami promises.  

-

 

“I’m coming back to Japan with you.” Himuro sings at him when he lands, slinging an arm over his neck. “You’re gonna introduce me.”

“Sure.” Kagami says, grinning. “He’ll like you.” 

 

-

 

Kagami comes home in June. He’s covered in new scars and new lessons, but there’s someone he needs to see before he does anything else.

He knocks before he comes in.

“Kagami-kun.” Kuroko’s eyes are wide.

“Kuroko.” He says, full of love. “Hi.”

 


End file.
